Guy Deloach by Whitney Hemphill Who’s to say whether the classroom or corporate America is more fulfilling? Professor Guy DeLoach, that’s who. After spending more than 20 years in the automotive industry, DeLoach has found his calling as a business teacher at Lee University. DeLoach began his career as an executive for Toyota, running divisions in West Tennessee and working his way up to a Vice Presidential position. DeLoach ended up spending a lot of time in Asia coordinating mergers and acquisitions for the international automotive powerhouse. His success at Toyota did not limit him, however, in his career. DeLoach is a certified quality engineer and a certified reliability engineer. He served the U.S. Department of Commerce as a prestigious Baldridge Examiner, helping to decide on the company worthy of the Baldridge Award given by the president each year. He worked with the Department of Defense assessing military bases like Ft. Hood and Ft. Bragg to improve effectiveness and efficiency in the military. He still works with the healthcare industry in improving efficiency and performance. He became an international speaker on quality improvement and was in demand by several universities as a visiting lecturer. The latter is how a man with so many jobs finally found his niche. Through his experiences visiting universities to give lectures, DeLoach says he realized a passion. “I just thought, ‘I really enjoy this. This is great stuff,’” said DeLoach. “I enjoy the interaction with the student. I just really felt like God laid it on my heart to teach.” But it wasn’t that easy. DeLoach and his wife, Dorry had decided to stay in the corporate life for five more years before making a transition. DeLoach, however, was looking to leave Toyota who had asked him to move to Thailand to oversee projects there. DeLoach found and was offered a corporate job in Georgia, going along with his family’s five year plan. Then Dr. Dewayne Thompson, chair of the Lee University Department of Business called - in fact, he called on the DeLoachs’ way home from the job interview in Georgia - and asked them to stop by the Cleveland campus. DeLoach had asked for God’s guidance in this time of change and had looked into teaching at some other schools but hadn’t felt right about that path for his and his family’s lives yet. Then he came to Lee. “Experiencing chapel at Lee changed my and my family’s whole life. It was so inspiring to see students enter into a worship of God that I didn’t know existed on a college campus. I felt like I want to be a part of that,” said DeLoach of his experience at Lee that day. The family moved to Cleveland and have become a part of the Lee University family. Dorry has enrolled as a student and is finishing her education in the College of Education and DeLoach says they definitely made the right decision. “When I teach, I feel God’s pleasure,” said DeLoach. “When you’re doing what God desires you to do in your life, you experience His pleasure and there’s a peace in that. In corporate America, you experience a lot of material wealth and success but that’s only fulfilling for a short time. Corporate America can take a toll on your family.” The family consists of Dorry and their two sons, Brian and Steven. “It’s not about the individual, it’s about the family unit,” said DeLoach who feels as though Lee has provided a whole new family to him. “The people in the Business Department are like a family and I’ve never experienced that before. The feeling of camaraderie, family and support is not like anything I’ve ever experienced anywhere, and the vision that Dr. Thompson has for the department becoming a school of business and then developing a master’s degree, we’ve bought into it and it’s to glorify and honor God.” DeLoach has collaborated in working towards that goal since his arrival in fall of 2005. The business department has begun an initiative to take students and immerse them in corporate settings. The department has partnered with corporations in the area like Brown Stove Works, Eaton Corporation and Schering Plough to acclimate students to the corporate environment. The students get the opportunity to work on projects for Fortune 300 companies, providing the students with real-world experience and a good reference on their resumes. “The response from corporate America has been outstanding and now corporations are calling and asking to be involved,” said DeLoach of the program’s success. “These corporations are now hiring our graduates at top tier positions.” DeLoach is now finishing his dissertation, completing one educational process, and, according to him, just beginning another. “I can’t emphasize enough that the people who willingly pour their lives into my life, they have come alongside me and sacrificed their time and talents and taught me about the world of academia and dissertations. The administration willingly gives and sacrifices to help me and make me better. Anything I accomplish or we accomplish, it’s as a team. There are no individuals here.”   Posted on - 12/17/06